The Hon. (Dr.) Upali Pannilage - Minister of Rural Development, Social Security and Community Empowerment

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, I thank the Hon. Member for the question. The answers are:

¶ 02 1. Yes. 2. Yes. 3. After our Government assumed office, a committee chaired by the Secretary to the Prime Minister was appointed on 17 March 2025 to review non-commercial State institutions and make recommendations to Cabinet. For NISD, several recommendations were made. A committee established by letter dated 30 July 2025 from the Secretary to the Prime Minister conducted a detailed study of governance, strategic, managerial and staffing structures and submitted its final report with recommendations on the feasibility of affiliating NISD to a university to the Prime Minister’s Office on 16 December 2025.

¶ 03 Subsequently, by letter dated 9 February 2026, an ancillary committee was appointed to prepare an implementation report with recommendations to give effect to the Cabinet decision of 17 March 2025 regarding NISD under our Ministry. That committee recommended affiliation to the University of Kelaniya.

¶ 04 On 24 March 2026, the NISD Academic Board and Governing Council granted approval, and an operational plan is now being implemented. Preliminary discussions with the University of Kelaniya have been held. A compliance report aligning with the feasibility study has been prepared and approved by the NISD Governing Council on 27 March 2026. The action plan commenced on 23 February 2026, and we anticipate tabling the required legal instrument (Gazette) by 31 May 2026, which requires amending the existing Act. I will table Annex 01 with further details.